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Im sure MORE made the links before – I am glad it did with the news it broke about yesterday’s Delegate meeting.  I continue to spread the word about The Movement of Rank and File Educators via FB and to anyone who will listen at school.  I’ve received nothing but what I believe are legitimate thanks and utter shock about the undemocratic ways of UNITY. 

So disheartening to hear the way this situation was treated by UNITY.

Peg, I was at the DA and Peter never said those words, he would never say anything remotely biased or racial about anyone. He is one of the most thoughtful person you would ever meet.

What happened was that one of the founding members of the union, I think Abe Levine, started talking about the 1968 strike, the racial tension that was brought on during that time in Ocean Hill-Brownsville and the need to strike to protest the firing of those teachers. So I am assumed that he was alluding to the fight we would have to do now if teachers are harmed based on a flawed teacher evaluation.

If I’m incorrect in what I heard, please correct me.

He was speaking about the specialized HS resolution. Didn’t he say the UFT has been on both the right and wrong side of civil right issues and specifically mentioned the 68 strike as an example when the UFT was wrong?

And I appreciate you not calling me a liar. It is hard enough following what is happening with the rules of order used.

Isn’t that why the older gentleman became incensed? Then another younger MORE guy yelled at the senior that he was wrong leading to a lot of booing.

“Peter,” wearing a MORE t-shirt was motivating the resolution supporting the NAACP lawsuit challenging the Specialized high school exams – he referenced the racial nature of the 68 strike – and Abe Levine  a  union founder passionately rebuted him – I was the next speaker – a substitute resolution was introduced that MORE supported – “Peter’s” comment was unnecessary.

The prior discussion about a membership referendum was both political and philosophical delegates are the elected representatives of the staffs in their schools. With a union election a few months away I suspect this is an election strategy – which is fine.

As you enter the building for a Delegate Assembly you pass a gauntlet of members handing out flyers from a range of caucues … for me, a sign of a healthy union,

I’m sorry, I’m having trouble following your comment. What exactly happened – can you be more specific and give more detail please.

Peg, may I just refer you to the comment of “I noticed that …” above, then offer you an apology for my snarky response from before and assure you that these people are not at all radical. They’re not even angry.

They are, in every sense of the word (and are asking for things that are only), sensible -and democratic. If you agree with either of those things (and it sounds like you’d agree with both), , I’d like you to consider reading some of the literature on their website.

Follow the Money, I am not trying to smear anyone’s character. I don’t know anyone that spoke last night. I am just wondering if what Peter said about the 68 strike, and the UFT being on the wrong side, is a commonly accepted MORE position. From what I know of Oceanside Brownsville (and I was not alive at the time) Peter misspoke about the UFT’s place in history.

In trying to decide who is honest and what they hold as beliefs in the huge Delegate Auditorium, I am simply asking a question that has not been answered yet here. Was what he said his view or one held by MORE? I’m genuinely interested in knowing. Regardless, I would also be interested in knowing if he is MORE leadership. I hope you understand why I am asking and I appreciate how my inquiry has been received here. I did not want to get attacked and at first I thought I was going to be.

And I’m not affiliated with MORE. I’m a concerned teacher. One a little surprised there aren’t more teachers concerned about this upcoming evaluation deal and its ramifications. And one that would rather be talking about the rest of my career – and the rest of the careers of all my colleagues – than 1968.

Peg, thanks for speaking to that. Are you aware that the new system being proposed will use value-added measures, which have margins of error as high as 50%+? That if a teacher is rated ineffective based on growth measures (student grades and their movement), then they must be rated ineffective overall, no matter how strong their observations are… in fact, no matter if they receive a perfect 60 out of 100 for their observations? That the UFT is currently proposing teachers be held accountable for all 22 competencies of the Danielson Rubric? Do you know the details about all that? And if not, shouldn’t the Union be educating you? Shouldn’t the Union be educating all teachers about it? And shouldn’t we all have a say before they agree to it?

OK Peg. I was on the picket line in 68 but I also saw both sides of the issue and both were wrong. Peter said that the UFT strike in 68 created a break with the black community. There is no one anywhere in NYC who wouldn’t agree with that. Even see the Kahlenberg bio of Shanker.
 Abe LEvine distorted the issue when he said the UFT struck only over due process when we all know part of that strike was to kill community control — whether you agree with comm cont or not, Abe is lying when he made it seem that wasn’t a factor.
19 teachers were transferred without due process and the UFT claims it went on strike for 3 months over that issue. Now when due process rights of most NYC teachers are violated every 5 minutes your UFT/Unity caucus leaders lie down like dogs. Have fun defending them.

Right mg. “Peg” is here to distract people over the UFT refusal to allow a vote on what will be a major change in the contract, as even Leroy Barr said was required. And cold warrior Abe Levine would re-invade Vietnam tomorrow. Here are some thoughts which I will post on Ed Notes so feel free to comment there.

The reso supporting the NAACP position on the specialized HS came out of a great discussion of that issue at a MORE meeting earlier this year. The UFT modified it and there were some back and forth discussions over coming to a joint agreement. So I do want to make this point that Unity and MORE were on basically the same page here and Peter was chosen to motivate it.

I agree that Peter didn’t need to go back to 68 in his speech and in fact I don’t hold the same exact view he and a portion of the left holds on the strike. (For your info I am a MORE capitalist).

Luckily MORE, unlike Unity Caucus, is a democratic org where we can openly discuss issues (come to our meeting on Saturday to see the difference from Unity).

But since we’re in this space, I will chime in with a few thoughts that might make connections between issues like the evaluation and the 68 strike.

I’m part of the conspiracy theory crowd that feels certain forces at the time — with many of the very same views today’s ed deformers hold — probably the same people — the “liberal” Ford Foundation at the time — were out to create a split between the power of the UFT and the black community and they succeeded royally. Note today that their descendents are using different terminology to split the union away by using the charter school wedge. The UFT fell for it then (do you think that working something out about the transfers just might have led to a better outcome?) and has fallen for so much of it now by actually agreeing with so much of the ed deform program makes for an interesting study. They are boxed in and fear treading the delicate line if they take an out and out position opposing charters as destroying the fabric of public education. Luckily MORE can do so and will do so.

(By the way, Shanker and I think Ravitch through the years raised issues related to “Balkanization” of the schools if we allowed community control, which is somewhat ironic in that charters have done just that — boy, how far has Ravitch come — I now find myself and others walking a line between supporting public ed but under some level of community control, which is the position I believe MORE is working out — some subtleties involved here. The UFT on the other hand supports mayoral control, partly as a consequence of the 68 community control issue — the UFT would rather deal with even a Bloomberg than with 32 separate school boards. Thus any calls for an elected school board as the Chicago Teachers Union is doing will be rejected by the UFT — not only is the leadership anti-democratic internally, but don’t want any real parent say in their own local schools, other than making sure their kids do their homework and join the PTA — note the silence of the UFT over the weak CEC Bloomberg set up, which I am betting makes the UFT happy).

After 68 the UFT leadership was shunned by so much of the communities they alienated. Randi as a break from the Shanker/Feldman era was able to make inroads and Mulgrew responded to Peter by claiming his man of the year title given by the NAACP.

Now just think of what the Joel Klein crowd have done by raising things as the “civil rights issue of our time.” And the Waiting for Superman movie. The very goal was to break down whatever ties that have been built. And the UFT is left backpeddling, having never forgotten the outcomes of the 68 strike, still its fatal weakness. If you could ask Shanker if he would do it again, what do ypu think he would say?

 Clay, A Unity slug is a Unity slug. “Peg” Keeps coming back and asking the same innocuous question about  “the guy wearing the MORE” shirt. Standard Unity slug practice. We call em as we see em.